Natural help for pancreatitis?

My 18 year old was diagnosed with pancreatitis and IBS. He was given Metronidazole and was doing well on it. No more vomiting or runny stool. The vet just took him off it because she said it might cause other problems if used long-term.

So I am wondering if there are natural supplements I can try to help ease his symptoms and inflammation? Has anyone had success managing this without drugs? He is already off dry food.

I'm just wondering why take a cat off something that is working well to prevent something that might happen in the future for a cat that is already EIGHTEEN years old???? 

IMHO, quality of life is much more important than quantity of life, and my understanding is that pancreatitis is extremely painful, and left unchecked can lead to worse things, perhaps worse than the long term effects of the medications he was on. 

Did your Vet not give you any advice as to what to do?  I supposed you could try to locate a holistic Vet and see if they can offer some suggestions.   Being on all wet food is a good start....is it low in carbs?  I think carbs (mainly grains) are bad...I know they are for IBD.

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I'm just wondering why take a cat off something that is working well to prevent something that might happen in the future for a cat that is already EIGHTEEN years old???? 

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That's exactly what I said. I'm going to tell her to put him back on it. Maybe a smaller dose or something. But time really isn't on his side, so her reasoning is strange. She didn't offer me other options.

Would probiotics or something help too? I have Bene-bac powder.

If your vet won't put him back on the drug that was helping, I say find another vet. My cat had pancreatitis for two years and it is a painful condition. Cats hide their pain, so the fact that I could tell she was in pain shows how bad it was, since she couldn't hide it. On a pain killer in the short term and steroids for the long term, the drugs did lead to some other problems eventually, but since I got my loving, playful cat back for a couple of years I have no regrets about that.

I basically agree with the other posts here, but if you still want to try supplements, there are some options. You can try them along with medication or on their own.

Probiotics may help; in fact they could possibly help enough that he wouldn't need medication at all. Besides making sure there is a healthy population of  good bacteria to help with digestion, probiotics have an anti-inflammatory affect on the whole body. I've had very good results with Benebac for runny stool problems in my cats, and since you already have some that would be a good one to try. I have IBS myself and I find what helps the most is eating yogurt regularly - the more expensive, high quality brands of Greek style yogurt work best. 

There's also Slippery Elm powder, which can be made into a "syrup" you can mix with his food. It can help to soothe the whole digestive tract. http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

I don't know what he's eating, but it's always possible there is something in his food that irritates him and a change might help. I know cats with pancreatitis supposedly don't respond to lowering the fat content the way other species do, but my cat (who has mild chronic pancreatitis) does better with low fat wet foods.

Thank you guys. I will ask her to put him back on the pills, and also look into the slippery elm and maybe some digestive enzymes. As well as the probiotic.

Hi Hurtingheart.Metro or flagyl is not designed to be dosed forever but understand where Mrs.GJ is coming from.It is about quality & not quantity.Yes pancreatitis can be painful but depends on if it's a flareup and is better or what.I would recommend you join the pancreatic group at yahoo.Superb people who have all dealt with it in all life stages of kitties.Pls make your posting lge & new Member Kitty diagnosed with Pancreatitis  @ 18 yrs need help Ok? Any tests you have had done on your babe you are privy to all results via email or in paper form.They will need all reports of test results in order to help you.Any BW etc.Fpl1 etc.Here's their link

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Feline_Pancreatitis_Support/info   Hope that helps Honey.C.